As an OU student, (well, at the health science center) I can tell you what's been going on. A pledge at the Sigma Chi fraternity was found dead, I think on a Thursday morning, at first with unknown causes, but suspicion of alcohol poison. The determined it WAS alcohol related, and there was an immediate lock down of the Sigma Chi's. What's interesting, is that the body was moved from where he died. Secondly, many of the fraternity members were not cooperating with the police. Most of them now have lawyers and have moved off campus into apartments. Then Sigma Chi national came and took away their charter after David Boren, president of OU shut them down. Most likely, David Boren made his decision to ban alcohol because of this incident. It looks badly from a PR standpoint, and OU is all about PR for their money. Pretty sad that a bunch of idiots screw it up for everyone.

But what is to stop people from meeting off campus/outside of dorms and drink? Are they going to stop alcohol consumption in the parking lots during football games? All you are going to do is drive drinking underground, with less supervision and observance. What if a underage student comes back to a dorm or frat drunk (or even someone over 21)? Let us not forget that we in the USA can give the responsibilty to those 18 to 21 with the responsibilty of going to war to Iraq and elsewhere, yet they cannot drink. A ban is unenforceable, but sounds like good PRBS.

Theoretically all fraternity houses are SUPPOSED to be dry. But of course they are not.

Not ours. Our national organization has no bylaws banning drinking in our fraternity houses (of course, the chapter can be placed on alcohol/social probation if an incident occurs). In fact, I really can't think of a fraternity that does have a complete ban on alcohol. The university bans us from having kegs at the house and having a third party serve alcohol in our house, but thats about it in terms of limitations.

The OU ban is ridiculous. College students will drink no matter what, short of a death penalty for drinking. It's a PR joke.

A ban is unenforceable, but sounds like good PRBS.You hit the nail on the head...these so called bans on alcohol in dorms or frats or whatever are in most cases not worth more than the paper they are printed on. I have lived in a dorm that didn't allow alcohol, yet there was always tons of alcohol flowing on the weekends. Likewise, I have friends who live in frats that are supposed to be dry, yet they have parties all the time. The bans are just something to make the school feel better that they are trying to crack down on drinking. It has no real effect, and drinking will continue like it always has. There's no easy solution to the problem of binge drinking on college campuses, and there probably never will be. As long as kids are away from home for the first time and have alcohol readily available they will be drinking it. Maybe schools need to realize this and promote "smart" drinking rather than passing unenforcable bans.